Abstract

BASTOS, Maria Helena Camara. The education of slaves and freedmen in Brazil: sparse vestiges of the ability to read, write and count (16th to 19th centuries). Cad. Hist. Educ. [online]. 2016, vol.15, n.2, pp.743-768. ISSN 1982-7806.  https://doi.org/10.14393/che-v15n2-2016-15.

The present text analyzes various signs of strategies and devices that involved the instruction/schooling of slaves and freedmen during the Colonial and Imperial periods (1500-1889). It focuses especially on the 19th century with examples of slaves and freedmen who learned to read, write and count. Some of them even attained higher education and became teachers, expressing their ideas through the press. In order to discuss education of the slaves in Brazil, we must bear in mind that being a slave already defined the condition of social and therefore educational exclusion. Even if there were small spaces of freedom, they were not enough for social emancipation. Slavery, much more than an economic system was a process of education through fear, which disciplined forms of conduct, defined social hierarchies, forged feelings and values. This is a history of exclusion, of social inequalities, of discrimination and deprival of citizenship, which is still reflected in the 21st Century.

Keywords : Education of the Slaves; Social Exclusion; Knowledge of Written Language.

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